Trepkos' field reports

Merry Christmas - whatever you're doing, don't work too hard. And join a union.

... about my complaint to the BBC about the descriptions of a forest in India as "infested" with wild animals:

Finally, today, Colin Tregear of the Executive Complaints Unit, (the third person to address my complaint) threw me a crumb:

"I understand your strength of feeling and I accept “infested” may not have been the most appropriate word to use in this context."

There was other boring stuff about how no one would have been confused by it blah blah blah but I count this as a minor victory.

The constant drip-feeding of anti-wildlife sentiments into our eyes and ears is something that must be resisted!

Gutted to learn that Michelle Trachtenberg has been found dead.

What a sad loss of a very talented young woman.

If you have trouble rubbing body lotion on the middle and top of your back, spread it on the back of your hand instead of the palm.

If your bath water gets cold too quickly, spread a layer of bubble-wrap over half to 3/4 of the surface.

It has taken me until the age of 65 to work these things out.

I mentioned in my diary 20 years ago that Eliade had written a bit of Season Noir for a donation I made to something or other, and I looked back at it, and checked AO3, and found that it had not been archived there along with the rest. So I added it in large chunks in the comments section. Hopefully whoever did the archiving will sort it into a proper entry.

There is also a comment from her about future chapters! I've been looking for that for age.

Find it all here in the comments section.

Challenge #8

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for a beloved character, relationship or fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Mine is about "Arthur of the Britons", and the pairing at the heart of it, Arthur and Kai.

The series was one of the first costume dramas, if not the first, made entirely on location. The finance came from the children's programming budget, but the themes were often quite adult.
It is a retelling of King Arthur, but Arthur didn't call himself king. He was the leader of a group of often fractious tribes of Celts, trying to defend their lands against the invading Saxons - and the twist in the tale is that Arthur's lieutenant, Kai, who was raised alongside him, is a Saxon by birth.

The principals, Arthur (Oliver Tobias - "The Stud") and Kai (Michael Gothard) make a very attractive pair, and on occasion you can cut the UST with a knife. This video is an illustration.

The show has a wonderful soundtrack and score, and inspired me, and other fans, to locate filming locations, meet people involved with the series, and set up an archive about it, including transcripts, call sheets, photos, and nit-pickers' guides.

You can order it on DVD - the German production, Konig Arthur is superior, and has the english soundtrack - or you can watch it on Youtube. If you do, the best order we have worked out so far, is below. The English airing of the episodes was not the same as the filming order, which has been painstakingly worked out!

Arthur is Dead
Daughter of the King
The Challenge
The Gift of Life
Enemies and Lovers
In Common Cause
The Penitent Invader
The Slaves
People of the Plough
Go Warily
The Prisoner
The Duel
Rowena
Some Saxon Women
The Marriage Feast
The Prize
Six Measures of Silver/Rolf the Preacher
The Games
The Pupil/The Wood People
The Girl from Rome
The Swordsman
The Treaty

Challenge #4

Set your own goals!

Complete house tidy and spring clean.

Work through all the new info from new "Arthur of the Britons" contact, add it to my archive, and make a Blogbook of it.

Reset my biological clock, so that I can wake up before 10 am. For this, I have to stop taking naps any later than 3 pm and start my exercise by 6 pm, so that I can get into bed by 11 pm. You might suggest I use an alarm clock, but I find that if I am woken by an alarm, I feel like I am about to have a heart attack!


Challenge #5

Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.

I am a natural born slasher. For as long as I can remember (which is quite a long time) it has given me warm fuzzy feelings, like I have been given a basket of kittens, whenever I have seen two guys looking like they are in love.

So, yeah - I remember as a kid, of maybe 11, typing a story on my grandparents' typewriter, about two guys, Leo (who was dark-haired) and Alex (who was blond), and a tragedy involving a mean sister killing Leo's horse, which brought them together ... I think it was a H/C thing at the time, but I hadn't any ideas about sex of any kind back then, so I'm sure once I had, there would have been kissing ...

I can't rationalise this in terms of my upbringing, education, or friendships - it's a deep seated biological reaction, which I suppose must have originally had some survival benefit, probably long before humans evolved.

Say, two male primates of some sort are fighting for dominance; one wins, and expresses dominance by mounting the other, and so gets to lead the troupe, and mate with the females. If the females have all got bored and run off, both of them have wasted their time. But if some of the females were fascinated, and even turned on by the spectacle, it's possible that both males will successfully reproduce ...

Anyway, all I'm getting round to is the way online fandom has:

- made me realise that I'm not the only slasher in the world - which was both a revelation and a relief.

- given me lots of free stories (cough: ... porn) to fill my brain and lots of files with, and greatly improved my sexual experiences - this is something that used to be talked about a lot on Livejournal, but I feel a bit like people have gone back "in the closet" in that respect.

- got me started writing for other people's eyes for the first time.

- helped me meet lots of new and lovely people, both online and in real life.

- ensured that I am never lacking something to do, or something new to watch or read.

Challenge #3

Despite society's insistence otherwise, the beliefs and opinions that we hold about things change over time. In your own space, talk about a fannish opinion you hold that has changed over time. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I very rarely change my mind about anything, so this was tricky. But when I was first a fan of Star Trek, aged 10 or 11, and for some years after, I kept wishing that Kirk would die and Spock be made captain, so that everything would run smoothly!

I know - hilarious. Where would be the drama? The tension? I guess I had enough of that at home!

I gradually grew to realise that they were the perfect foil for each other. No one ever offered me slash fanfic magazines, though I would have loved to have them - I am a natural born slasher, so I don't know why they never came my way, and until 2004, I thought I was alone!

But in a relationship or not, Kirk and Spock go together like ... two things that go together perfectly.

Challenge #2

In your own space, talk about your fannish origin story. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

My first serious fandom was Star Trek. I was 10 or 11 years old, living with a horrible aggressive mother, her nagging boyfriend, and a little sister of 2 years old. Television was my refuge - there were only 2 channels: BBC and ITV - but there was always something I wanted to see - sometimes on both channels at once, which was torment without any recording devices. Every week, I would mark all the TV shows I wanted to watch in the Radio Times.
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So much of my time is filled up with my fandom obsessions. It has greatly enriched my life; I have met some lovely people, and I imagine there is plenty to keep me occupied for the next few years.

1. What is the most adventurous food you've ever tried?

Generally, I don't like being adventurous with food - seems like a good way to end up getting your stomach pumped. The weirdest thing was, when I was about 6, my mum asked what I wanted to eat on my birthday, and for some reason best known to some child psychologist, I said "rabbit." I had never had rabbit before, I didn't enjoy it at all, and I never ate it again. What on EARTH possessed me?

2. What is the most adventurous food you'd be willing to try?

Any non-poisonous fruit or vegetable - no weird mushrooms, please.

3. Would you have a problem eating dog meat and why or why not?

As a vegetarian of 50 + years, yes, there is no way I would eat dogs, or any other animal. While I know that every animal wants to live it's own life, and cows have best friends, and fish do NOT have bad memories, there seems to me to be a special sort of betrayal involved when a human eats a dog. We have kept and bred this species for millenia, and they are the other species which has played the most intimate part in human history; we created them to love us unconditionally. How DARE we turn on them and eat them?

4. For the most part, do you consider your diet to be balanced?

I am a junk food vegetarian - my diet is not well organised. But I'm still here, and in better condition than many people my age.

5. Which is more appealing: being a vegetarian for the rest of your life or being a strict carnivore for the rest of your life?

A strict carnivore's life would be nasty, brutish and short. I intend to be a vegetarian for the rest of my life.